Countering the nautical threat,Somali pirates demand comrades' release

Forget the perils of the Cape Horn or the storm-lashed waters of the southern oceans; a journey through the relatively calm waters of the Gulf of Aden is one of the most nerve-racking and treacherous voyages a mariner can make. Linking the Arabian Sea with the Red Sea, this waterway is used by about 36,000 ships a year, between them carrying almost a third of the world’s containerised cargo and nearly half of the world’s bulk cargo.Crews travelling this route have no alternative, but as they do so they turn out the lights, glance nervously out to sea and pray they do not fall victim to the gangs of Somalian pirates prowling the busy waters.The threat of piracy off Somalia has been growing since the country was plunged into civil war in the 1990s. In recent years, the number of attacks has increased at an alarming rate. In 2008, there were 42 successful hijackings and pirates reaped around $50m (£30m) worth of ransoms.
By mid-April this year, pirates had already seized 21 vessels.
So far, most incidents have been settled without loss of life by ships’ insurers. But as the pirates’ ambitions grow, ransom demands escalate and fears emerge over links between piracy and terrorism, shipowners and governments are regarding the situation with mounting unease.Spotting a huge market opportunity, a number of companies are developing technology that could help shipowners counter the threat of piracy. Many of these ideas come from the world of defence, where technologies originally developed for naval applications are directly relevant to counter-piracy operations.Leading the field is BAE Systems, which is working on a suite of imaging and processing technologies that could provide an advanced warning of a pirate attack and give vessels a chance to take evasive action.BAE is carrying out a feasibility study with shipowners, government agencies and navies, and hopes to conduct sea trials next year.Bryan Hore, who is leading the project, said the system is being developed with a particular mode of operation in mind. ‘[Pirates] tend to attack from dawn or dusk, at a slight angle, from behind onboard skiffs. Armed with AK47s, a rifle and an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade], they aim a few warning shots at the citadel, then use ropes and ladders with hooks on to climb on board,’ he said. It is a pretty one-sided affair, added Hore. Once under attack, a crew is rapidly scared into submission.Identifying a threat in the crowded waters of the Gulf of Aden is no simple task. Not only is it one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, but it is also full of small fishing vessels and, according to Hore, it is not easy to tell the difference between a pirate and a fisherman. Both use small boats and typically carry guns. A system that can discriminate between the two must be intelligent.The first element is a high-frequency surface wave (HFSW) radar. Currently used for border and coastal surveillance, these systems are able to see beyond the horizon and could be configured to look 360° around the ship. For spotting smaller pirate vessels, this has big advantages over a ship’s conventional navigation radar.The gathered data will be analysed by software that will compare a vessel’s movements to acknowledged patterns of behaviour and identify suspicious activity. ‘Pirates tend to sit around in clusters of three or four boats, maybe with one larger vessel,’ said Hore. ‘They tend to stay out for a long time around a certain area.’..more..http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/313491/Countering+the+nautical+threat.htm

Somali pirates demand comrades' release

Somali pirates caught by French tan

Updated: 18:10, Tuesday October 13, 2009

Somali pirates who attempted to hijack a French naval tanker have been handed over to Somali's semi- autonomous Puntland officials.The pirates were transferred to a police boat from the same French naval tanker they had planned to attack.The French naval vessel repelled the attack and captured five of the attackers after a chase on the high seas.Monsoon rains curbed pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden in recent months, but now they have started to pick up again.Heavily-armed gangs from Somalia have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing boats in shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia.Some of the pirates are former fishermen angered by foreign boats fishing in Somali waters.But European fleets say the pirates are threatening an industry worth up to 6 billion US dollars annually.